The Chipotle High School Basketball Nationals will be played at Brownsburg High School (outside Indianapolis), April 4-6, 2024. The format is a single elimination tournament, with the top two seeds getting byes, to crown a champion in a six-team bracket with all games broadcasted live on ESPN platforms.
Some of these teams have crossed paths this year at various events. They are seasoned and prepared to compete for this prestigious title. This event is loaded with players headed to the next level, including seven McDonald’s All Americans and four Gatorade State Players of the Year. It will also feature some of the up-and-comers as well.
Let’s take a look at the teams and their résumés as they enter the weekend in basketball-rich Indiana. Long Island Lutheran is the favorite going in: Can anyone potentially knock them off that pedestal?
Long Island Lutheran
Record: 21-1
Head coach: Christina Raiti
Top wins: Duncanville, St. John’s (DC), DeSoto, Lake Highland Prep, Hebron Christian, Bishop McNamara, Etiwanda, Montverde, Morris Catholic, Sidwell Friends, Crestwood
Prep key players: Kate Koval (Notre Dame), Syla Swords (Michigan), Kayleigh Heckel (USC), Lauryn Swann (Arizona), Savvy Swords, Olivia Jones
LUHI comes to the event as the odds-on favorite to take home the title. They amassed the toughest schedule in the country this year — playing more than 10 teams that were at one point in the top 25 of the weekly ESPNW Power Rankings. The team’s only loss came in the final seconds at the prestigious Nike TOC to Archbishop Mitty. Last year, LUHI lost in the championship game of this event to Montverde Academy.
This is a senior-laden group that’s mature and plays the game with serious competitive joy. LUHI is balanced inside and out, defends hard, and can light up the scoreboard. The roster features some international elements in the Swords sisters (Canada) and Koval (Ukraine). Syla Swords has had arguably the best basketball year of any high schooler, playing on several levels of the Canadian National team — helping the Senior National Team qualify for the Olympics in January) — being named a McDonald’s, Naismith and Jordan Brand All-American and will participate in the Nike Hoop Summit in April for the international squad. Heckel and Koval were also named McDonald’s, Jordan Brand and Naismith All-Americans.
Although loaded with stars, depth is a concern for LUHI potentially. If they were to drop a game in this event, look for foul trouble as the cause.
Grayson High School
Record: 32-0
Head coach: Tim Slater
Top wins: IMG, Wesleyan (GA)
Key Players: Danielle Carnegie (Georgia Tech), Malaya Jones (Nicholls State), Erin Rodgers (Florida Atlantic), Tatum Brown
Grayson is coming off the Georgia class 7A State Championship with an undefeated record. Despite not playing the same type of national schedule of the majority of the rest of the field, the team should not be overlooked.
Danielle Carnegie transferred into Grayson during the summer and scores the ball as well as any perimeter player in the country — highlighted by a performance with 30 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists versus IMG Academy in a January win at the MLK Classic in Atlanta. Rodgers is a blue-collar athletic forward who works the glass and brings defensive energy.
This group generates offense from their defense and is relentless attacking the paint. They have perimeter firepower and an athletic and mobile lineup, but they could find some issues on the interior against the bigger teams in this event.
IMG Academy
Record: 23-3
Head coach: Frank Oliver
Top wins: Westtown, Bishop McNamara, Mater Dei, Lake Highland Prep, DME, Montverde
Key Players: Tayla Thomas (Northwestern), Heloisa Carerra (Ole Miss), Taj Roberts (Louisville), Leah Harmon (Miami), Kelis Fisher (UConn), Lena Girardi, Lara Somfai, Deniya Prawl
Oliver is in his first year leading the IMG program and he got right to work bolstering the roster when he got to campus. In today’s climate with the academy/prep school option becoming more accepted and popular, a big part of the job is recruiting and building a talented roster. Notable additions this year were Harmon, Roberts, Prawl and then Somfai arrived from Australia in January.
This is a balanced and loaded roster with backcourt production as a major strength. Roberts had a fantastic year. She was invited to the Jordan Brand Classic and was named a Naismith All-American. Harmon does a masterful job of distributing and is knock-down in the catch-and-shoot. Somfai brings a physical and active presence inside and continues to improve as she adjusts to the American game.
IMG had moments this year where the team was really rolling as a unit but also moments where they looked disconnected and contributed to beating themselves. The key for them will be a consistent, centrally focused effort that could very well result in a championship.
Montverde Academy
Record: 21-4
Head coach: Matt Shewmake
Top wins: Lake Highland Prep, Hebron Christian, Wesleyan (GA), Sidwell Friends
Key players: Jaloni Cambridge (Ohio State), Vivian Iwuchukwu (USC), Eris Lester (Alabama), Holland Harris, Lourdes de Silva Costa, Finley Chastain (Tennessee)
Montverde is the two-time defending champion of this event but this is Shewmake’s first year at the helm of the program. Much like his Floridian counterpart at IMG, he hit the ground running in recruiting. He quickly added McDonald’s, Naismith, and Jordan Brand All-American and Nike Hoop Summit participant Jaloni Cambridge as the foundation of the 2023-24 roster. Harris joined from within the state as well as Lester. The freshman shooter Chastain came from Texas while Iwuchukwu and De Silva Costa were strong pieces that remained from the previous year.
This group is intense and fast and creates points off of their defense. Cambridge is the catalyst and she is complemented by the athletes inside and on the wings. Montverde has shown flashes this year of the potential to challenge anyone in the country, although it will take their most complete performance to once again claim the tournament crown. The ball can stick occasionally as they stand and watch Cambridge operate and they can go in offensive lulls when not making shots from the perimeter. They played a very challenging schedule and it should have them prepared to compete in this talented field.
Sidwell Friends
Record: 25-6
Head coach: Tamika Dudley
Top wins: Sierra Canyon, Sacred Heart, Bullis (MD)
Key players: Kendall Dudley (UCLA), Zania Socka-Nguemen (UCLA), Marley Long (William and Mary), Jordyn Jackson, Ava Yoon, Jayda Dixon
This is the third time Dudley and Sidwell have played in this championship event. They are no stranger to competing for the ESPNW Power Rankings’ top spot and return this year to cap off another solid season. This team executes precisely, and they will be a tough matchup for anyone in this field.
The foundation of this squad is Kendall Dudley (McDonalds, Naismith, and Jordan Brand All-American as well as Nike Hoop Summit participant), daughter of the head coach. She is a versatile player and functions as a point-forward for this squad, providing defensive flexibility and facilitation and scoring on the offensive end, which was an adjustment for her this season. Her nature is to be the glue and fill holes, but this team needed her to be more assertive offensively this season.
Socka-Nguemen emerged over the past year as one of the more formidable interior players in the country, earning McDonald’s All American honors. Jackson provides defensive production, which is complemented by her expanding perimeter game while the freshman Dixon has shown some growth over the course of the year, giving them another option as a ball handler.
Sidwell has experience and firepower but can lack elite ball-handling versus teams with quick pressuring perimeter defenses. Dudley & Co. will have to control pace and take quality shots while limiting turnovers to make a run at the championship.
Grace Christian Sanford
Record: 30-0
Head coach: Chad Revelle
Top wins: Georgetown Visitation, Camden (S.C.), Rutgers Prep (N.J.)
Key Players: Seniors: Sarah Strong (No. 1 in 2024), Serenity McNair, Icyss Storm
Grace Christian Sanford arrives at this event as the most unique entrant. It’s a small private school in North Carolina that has not played the monster schedules of the LUHI’s and the Montverde’s and without the student body population draws of 7A Grayson in Georgia. What they do have, however, is the nation’s best player in Strong (McDonald’s, Naismith and Jordan Brand All-American and Nike Hoop Summit participant). Currently undeclared as a recruit (UConn, Duke, UNC), Strong is the most unique matchup in the country with her ability to handle, shoot, bang inside and facilitate on the floor.
This group did challenge themselves and get out to events such as the Capital Invitational and She Got Game Classic as well as the John Wall Invitational. Strong is supported by Storm on the interior, an active athlete with midrange and finishing game as well as McNair — who will spot up and facilitate — at the guard spot. They will mix up man-to-man and zone defenses and play a free-flowing offense, dictated mostly by Strong. This will be a challenge for this group, but they are 30-0 and Strong is No. 1 for a reason.
